Fremont City Council to consider tennis club expansion near Kimber Park

By Chris De Benedetti,

The Argus

Posted:
11/16/2012 05:49:31 PM PST

Updated:
11/16/2012 06:37:08 PM PST

FREMONT -- In an attempt to defuse vocal complaints over the planned expansion of the Mission Hills Tennis Club, the business's owners once again have revised their proposal to build new facilities in the Kimber Park area.

The City Council is scheduled to consider the long-debated issue Tuesday night.

The five-member council will hear the matter about a month after two heated Planning Commission meetings failed to produce a recommendation or rejection of the proposal to replace the current 6,000-square-foot clubhouse with one that would be seven times larger.

The project presented at those contentious meetings called for the construction of seven tennis courts, three swimming pools, a restaurant, spa, fitness area, and a business center with a conference room and nine guest rooms for lodging.

The upscale Fremont neighborhood's residents -- led by the grass-roots group Save Kimber Park -- vocally opposed the plan.

Now, consultants representing Fremont Mission Hills LLC, the company that owns the 39-year-old tennis club, say they are making changes to their proposal with the goal of finding common ground with the neighbors who oppose them.

The new plan calls for shrinking the proposed club's footprint from 42,000 square feet to 24,340 square feet. In addition, the business center, the conference room and all lodging would be eliminated, said consultant Dwane Kennedy, of CityShapers. There would be two pools instead of three and all swimming areas would be housed within the club complex, allowing for a smaller clubhouse facility, Kennedy said.

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Also, the new club would have nine tennis courts and one indoor multiuse court -- three more courts than what was proposed last month.

"I think it's an improvement and I think it brings us closer to agreement," Kennedy said.

A phone message left Friday for a Save Kimber Park spokeswoman was not returned.

The group has successfully fought off development in the area for more than 35 years. Those efforts have protected Kimber Park, a nearly 13-acre forest between Mission Boulevard and the hills, just south of Stevenson Boulevard.

Earlier this year, Save Kimber Park prevented the club's owners from building housing on its U-shaped property. And, in July, the City Council approved a citizen-led initiative that makes it harder to rezone privately owned properties designated as open space.

Kimber Park's designation as a one-year study area expires Dec. 14.

Now, the City Council will take another crack at the hotly contested issue.

"We've given up a lot to make this work with the neighborhood," Kennedy said. "I'm still hopeful that this will be approved."